


qmi | silence and sound

by plincess_cho (ai_hao)



Category: Super Junior
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Qmi, always for suu, for suu, non-au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-28 02:56:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15039158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ai_hao/pseuds/plincess_cho
Summary: The only thing Zhou Mi hears is Kyuhyun’s voice.





	qmi | silence and sound

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silversymphony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silversymphony/gifts).



> Alternate summary: The reason why Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun are constantly whispering whenever they're together.

When Zhou Mi first moves to Korea, he wants to hear everything. He lands in Seoul with nothing but a small suitcase, a backpack, and his lifeline to the world: his hearing aids. He adjusts the volume as the devices pick up sounds he’s never heard before. Everyone is talking very quickly in unfamiliar syllables, and Zhou Mi basks in the newness of it all. He listens attentively to the company representative who collects him at the arrival gate and nods along as if he understands. He’s only studied a little bit of Korean, but he hopes he can pick up the language easily.

In the first few weeks, he fills a small notebook with phrases he’s heard. There’s _annyeonghaseyo_ (hello) and _juseyo_ (please) and his new favorite, _kkakkajuseyo_ (please give me a discount). He scribbles everything down, hoping to pick up the new language as quickly as possible. After all, he hopes to become a singer with the Korean company who scouted him.

It takes a while for him to get adjusted, but he picks up simple phrases easily and after a few weeks can hold simple conversations with restaurant owners or train operators on the metro. He sits with the other trainees at lunch who also try to teach him things, but Zhou Mi suspects they might be trying to teach him rude words judging by the way they giggle after he repeats a phrase.

He asks others to repeat things a lot, and everyone happily obliges. Zhou Mi realizes that for the first time in his life, nobody realizes that he can’t hear as well as they do. They simply think he’s a cute foreigner trying to learn their language. He has to admit, it’s a nice feeling.

When he meets Han Geng, things get instantly better. He doesn’t have to strain as much to listen when Geng speaks Chinese and even his Northern accent isn’t as cumbersome as Zhou Mi would have anticipated. Heechul, on the other hand, is infinitely harder to understand than almost every other Korean he’s met. He speaks quickly and his vocabulary is what Han Geng describes as “colorful.” Han Geng can’t even understand him half the time and he’s been in Korea for much longer than Zhou Mi. There’s a lot of nodding and confusion, but they figure things out eventually.

And then… then Zhou Mi meets Kyuhyun and thinks he’s never heard a voice more beautiful. Kyuhyun speaks clearly with a measured pace, and once he realizes that Zhou Mi has hearing loss, he makes a concerted effort to speak as distinctly as possible.

When they all go out for food after an afternoon practice, Zhou Mi hangs back until Kyuhyun drags him along, shouting something about how they’re all going together and _of course_ Zhou Mi is invited. The restaurant is crowded and loud, and Zhou Mi can hardly decipher anything anyone is saying over the din. Han Geng is at the other end of the table, unable to translate for him, so Zhou Mi resigns himself to squinting at the menu and enduring the night.

Dishes arrive at their table, and Zhou Mi hardly recognizes anything. He’s spent most of his time in Korea eating cheap soup from the street vendors, so a restaurant is a new experience. He eyes the dishes with dismay and prepares himself for a game of “Taste and See” when suddenly there’s an arm around his shoulders and lips against his ear.

“This one is kimchi jjigae,” Kyuhyun says, speaking slowly. At Zhou Mi’s nod, he continues, pointing out each dish on the table. “This is jjajjangmyeon, this is ddeokbokki, this is japchae…”

Zhou Mi melts.

*

It becomes their thing whenever they’re together. As Zhou Mi’s Korean improves, it’s easier for Kyuhyun to relay the nonsense the other members spew. While the others talk loudly, they don’t speak very clearly and it’s hard to understand them, especially when they all talk over each other. But then Kyuhyun will appear at his side, repeating the relevant parts of the funny story Shindong is telling into Zhou Mi’s ear.

“It’s like you’re my second set of hearing aids,” Zhou Mi says with a giggle.

Kyuhyun pulls back and grins. “I guess I am.”

*

The Korean members start learning Chinese when the new subunit is announced, and all of them stumble over the pronunciation. Zhou Mi and Han Geng share private chuckles as they listen to the members struggle with the _zh_ and _j_ and _z_ sounds. They’re all trying, but nobody can quite get it right.

“Stop laughing!” Siwon says in mock exasperation, a wide grin on his face.

“Now you know how I feel!” Han Geng replies.

Kyuhyun’s pronunciation is definitely the best, and Zhou Mi tells him so. Even after lessons, Kyuhyun keeps practicing as he tries to discern the difference between consonants that his tongue refuses to pronounce.

“It’s like this,” Zhou Mi says when they’re holed up in Kyuhyun’s dorm room, “put your teeth together for _zh_.”

Kyuhyun does, and it sounds terrible.

Zhou Mi can’t help but laugh, and Kyuhyun smacks at his arm until he calms down enough to explain it again. They run through pronunciation drills over and over until Kyuhyun runs out of steam.

Yet Zhou Mi thinks he could listen to Kyuhyun’s voice forever, no matter how bad his Chinese is.

*

Despite the backlash, it really is nice being back in China. Everything is easier for Zhou Mi to understand, and now he’s the one translating things back for the others. They have a translator most of the time for the others that translates the basic idea of what the MC’s are saying, and Zhou Mi basks in the rare moments where he understands everything: the vocabulary, the euphemisms, and the subtle plays on words that simply cannot be translated into Korean.

They go on another show that doesn’t have a translator available, and the Korean members are floundering. Thankfully the audience is forgiving, and most of the questions are aimed at Han Geng anyways. Zhou Mi sits in the back and just enjoys the experience.

The MC tells a joke, and Zhou Mi and Han Geng burst into laughter. The other members pull out their variety training and laugh along with everyone else, but suddenly Zhou Mi feels Kyuhyun lean against him and ask, “What was so funny?”

Zhou Mi pulls his microphone down so it won’t pick up his whispering and leans over, cupping his hand around Kyuhyun’s ear. He tries to explain the joke as best he can, and then Kyuhyun is nodding in understanding. He chuckles under his breath and smiles at Zhou Mi.

Later, the MC asks Kyuhyun a question but without the translator,  he starts to flounder. Before Zhou Mi knows what’s happening, Kyuhyun’s grabbed him by the collar and is whispering urgently into his ear for guidance. Zhou Mi translates for him, and Kyuhyun repeats his words exactly. The audience laughs, and Kyuhyun visibly relaxes.

They fall into a comfortable routine while in China: Zhou Mi translating things for Kyuhyun and Kyuhyun whispering in Zhou Mi’s ear asking for a translation or explanation. It gets to the point where any time Zhou Mi wants to talk to Kyuhyun, he automatically leans in close until his lips almost touch Kyuhyun’s ears. And Kyuhyun does the same, standing pressed against Zhou Mi. The other members tease them about it, but Zhou Mi just smiles.

He likes the feeling of Kyuhyun pressed against his side, whispering in his ear. These days, he doesn’t even have to ask Kyuhyun to translate or repeat things. He’s just always there, helping Zhou Mi follow along, and adding some choice commentary of his own. Zhou Mi just basks in it all, and soon when he thinks of what home sounds like, the sound of Kyuhyun’s voice echoes in his ears.

*

They’re onstage for the Super Show 2 encore in Shanghai, and everything feels terrible. As far as Zhou Mi can tell, the fans miss Han Geng and blame him and Henry for his departure. Everyone’s exhausted, both mentally and physically, but the boys go out onstage and try to make it a happy night. Zhou Mi sits backstage, fiddling nervously with the zippers on his stage outfit as he waits for his turn. Henry sits on the other end of the dressing room, playing some game on his phone as he tries to distract himself from the performance ahead. It shouldn’t be like this, Zhou Mi thinks. They should be excited to go onstage and perform, to live their dreams, but…

It’s even worse than Zhou Mi had imagined. The fans start chanting Han Geng’s name any time he or Henry picks up their microphone to sing, and Zhou Mi tries his best to keep his voice from cracking as he belts out the high notes for “Blue Tomorrow.” He doesn’t dare look around, his gaze focused forward into one of the bright lights illuminating the stage. Maybe, if he stares at it long enough, he’ll go blind as well as deaf so he won’t have to see or hear the hatred directed at him.

The instant his lines for the song finish, he reaches back to turn is in-ear monitors off, essentially turning them into earplugs. He stands there, knees shaking and palms clammy beyond belief, begging for the song to end so he can escape. Without his in-ears, he can’t hear the fans jeers, but he listens as the other members sing the final lines of the song.

Kyuhyun is last, singing what is supposed to be the final appeal to the long-gone lover. Even though muted, Zhou Mi can tell his voice lacks the emotion of the song. He looks back right as Kyuhyun lets the [microphone drop from his lips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IegR4_6mkLI), his head shaking in disgust. His eyes are dark, and Zhou Mi thinks he’s never seen Kyuhyun this angry. It would be comforting if… if this all weren’t so terrible.

Zhou Mi nearly runs backstage the second the song ends, even though he knows he’s giving the audience the satisfaction of him running away. He’d needed to escape before he collapsed onstage, and he barely makes it backstage before he slumps against the wall, legs wobbling and tears stinging his eyes.

The only thing he hears is the sound of his heart pounding in his ears. He cups his hands over his ears to block out everything else and lets himself slip into a beautiful silence.

And then there’s Kyuhyun gripping him tightly with one arm and pulling his hand away from his ear with the other, yelling “ _Wo ai zhe ni, wo ai zhe ni, wo ai zhe ni, dao yongyuan_ ” into his ear, the lyrics he refused to sing earlier. Zhou Mi clings to Kyuhyun and bites his tongue to keep himself from crying. He tastes blood, and he _knows_ he should just let go but he can’t and Kyuhyun keeps repeating the same phrase and…

 _I love you, I love you, I love you, forever_.

All he can hear is Kyuhyun’s voice, drowning out the taunts of the fans, the instructions from the staff, the blaring of the music. And when Kyuhyun has to go back onstage, Zhou Mi shoves his in-ear monitors back into his ears and lets everything else fade into the background.

*

When they head to Taiwan for an extended period of time, things finally start to get better. It’s nice being back in a place that uses Chinese, even if heavily accented. Zhou Mi’s Korean has improved enough that he can understand almost everything except for very obscure euphemisms and the Super Junior members when they’re all yelling simultaneously. (Though, as Kyuhyun tells him later, _nobody_ can understand that cacophony.)

Kyuhyun’s Chinese has improved significantly as well, and while not nearly as fluent as Zhou Mi’s Korean, it’s easy for Zhou Mi to understand his Kyuhyun-specific dialect.

They still have the age-old debate about whether Kyuhyun’s Chinese name is pronounced _Gui_ -xian or _Kui_ -xian. The first time Kyuhyun had told him his Chinese name, Zhou Mi had heard _Kui_ and has stuck with that to this day. But even now, with Kyuhyun clearly enunciating _GUI-xian_ in his ear, Zhou Mi still shakes his head.

“All I hear is _KUI-xian_ , Kuixian,” he says, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

It’s a lie, and Kyuhyun knows it, but he rolls his eyes and lets Zhou Mi think he’s won the argument.

*

They bunk together at the hotel, and after the third night, Kyuhyun vetoes Zhou Mi’s vibrating alarm clock.

“It’s _weird_ ,” he complains after chucking it onto the floor in an unsuccessful attempt to turn it off.

Zhou Mi feels the device buzzing against the leg of the bed and vaguely hears Kyuhyun grumbling as he hauls himself out of bed to retrieve it. Zhou Mi reaches for his hearing aids and turns them on just in time to hear Kyuhyun propose a new solution.

“How about this: I’ll use my alarm,” he proposes, and Zhou Mi opens his mouth to object with the fact that he uses a vibrating alarm because he _can’t hear normal alarms_. But then Kyuhyun continues with, “And then I’ll just wake you up.”

Zhou Mi is incredibly skeptical, but he agrees to try it once. He could point out that Kyuhyun could just sleep in his own bed and wake up any way he very well pleases, but he decides to keep that suggestion to himself. Kyuhyun is warm and comfortable and hardly moves when he sleeps, and Zhou Mi thinks he’s rather nice to cuddle up against after a long day.

They try it that night with Zhou Mi feeling increasingly anxious as he takes his hearing aids out before going to bed. It had always been a blessing and a curse to be partially deaf while he slept: on one hand, no sound could wake him up, and one the other hand, _no sound_ could wake him up.

Yet in the morning, he feels Kyuhyun gently shaking his shoulder and that beautiful voice against his ear, “ _Zao shang hao, Mi. Time to wake up._ ”

The vibrating alarm clock spends the rest of their time in Taiwan in his suitcase.

*

Zhou Mi is back in Korea after a long time to find that his Korean and Kyuhyun’s Chinese have both worsened. Kyuhyun smiles sheepishly at the realization and promises to start studying again, and Zhou Mi just nods. A lot of things have changed since they’d seen each other last, and Zhou Mi had spent the flight over in nervous anticipation of today.

He’d spent the morning in meetings with some execs, talking about his plans for the future and his expanding into Japan. He leaves feeling hopeful, but also a bit nervous about the thought of conquering another new country with a new language. It’ll work out, he tells himself, and that’s that.

But then he meets up with some of the guys and they go out for food. It’s fun being together with them, listening to them talk about the different things they’ve been up to. Siwon’s Chinese is alright, but the rest of them stumble through even basic phrases. Zhou Mi tells them he needs to practice his Korean anyways, which is true. He’d stumbled a bit this morning in the business meetings and wants to improve.

The restaurant they pick is loud, and Zhou Mi just decides that everywhere in Korea is loud. He’s grateful that the updated hearing aids he’d just received are working as well as the manufacturer had promised.

Yet as everyone discusses about what to order, Zhou Mi feels Kyuhyun lean in closer and whisper very clearly, “Do you want seolleongtang or samgyetang? They can’t decide.”

Zhou Mi feels warmth spreading throughout his chest as he replies, “Either. I like both.”

Kyuhyun nods and continues translating the discussion, unaware that Zhou Mi’s new hearing aids allow him to hear everyone else fairly clearly. Instead, Zhou Mi just sits back and listens to Kyuhyun’s melodic voice, his breath tickling Zhou Mi’s neck.

And in that moment, despite everything that’s happened, despite all the time they’ve spent apart, it feels just like it did all those years again the restaurant after practice, back when Kyuhyun leaned over and whispered in Zhou Mi’s ear for the very first time.

Zhou Mi smiles long after the food has arrived and laughs along with the others. At some point towards the end, Kyuhyun starts to relay something that Zhou Mi is already laughing about and reddens at the realization that Zhou Mi can understand without him. Zhou Mi just pats his thigh and tells him it’s okay, but when they’re back outside saying their goodbyes, Zhou Mi holds Kyuhyun close and says, “Thank you.”

“For what?” he asks.

“For being my ears for all of those years,” Zhou Mi replies.

Kyuhyun looks embarrassed and tries to shrug it off. “It was nothing.”

“No, it was a lot,” Zhou Mi insists. “And it meant a lot to me. It still does.”

Kyuhyun hugs him again and whispers, “It means a lot to me too.”

Zhou Mi waves goodbye for a long time, smiling in spite of himself. He fiddles with the hearing aid in his ear and thinks of the letter he’ll write to the manufacturing company.

_Your product is good and works well, but I must admit that I like my personal hearing aid better. His name is Cho Kyuhyun…_

**Author's Note:**

> My best friend in junior high had hearing aids. He also was incredibly forgetful so his hearing aids always got lost or ran out of batteries, so it was up to me to 'translate' a lot of things for him. This was inspired by those memories.
> 
> As always, comments are love ♡
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/plincess_cho) / [tumblr](http://plincess-cho.tumblr.com/)


End file.
